Justice News

District Man Pleads Guilty to Taking Part in Drug Conspiracy Based in Southeast Washington

Defendant Repeatedly Sold Crack Cocaine to Undercover Officer

WASHINGTON –Crevonte Johnson, 25, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to conspiring to distribute more than 280 grams of cocaine base, commonly referred to as crack cocaine, in the Washington, D.C. area, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu, Nancy McNamara, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Johnson pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conspiracy to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine base. The plea, which is subject to the Court’s approval, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 10 years in prison. The Honorable Trevor N. McFadden scheduled sentencing for Oct. 26, 2018.

Johnson was among 12 people indicted in December 2017 following an investigation into a drug trafficking organization that distributed large amounts of heroin, methamphetamine, and crack cocaine in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. One other defendant has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges, and ten others are awaiting trial.

According to plea documents filed today, law enforcement began investigating drug trafficking activities in the 2600 block of Birney Place SE in late 2015. Throughout the investigation, an undercover police officer purchased crack cocaine from Johnson on multiple occasions. The first such purchase took place in 2015 and Johnson continued selling crack cocaine to the undercover officer on a regular basis throughout 2016. The last of these sales took place on Dec. 14, 2016, in the parking lot of a grocery store in the 2800 block of Alabama Avenue, SE. Throughout the investigation, Johnson sold the undercover officer approximately $10,080 worth of narcotics. Johnson admitted in Court that he was responsible for conspiring to distribute over 280 grams of crack cocaine.

The prosecution grew out of the efforts of the FBI/MPD Safe Streets Task Force, a multi-agency team that conducts comprehensive, multi-level attacks on major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. The prosecution was sponsored and supported by the federal Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is working with MPD, the FBI, and other law enforcement partners on a Justice Department initiative called Project Safe Neighborhoods that is expected to generate additional cases targeting drug organizations. Under Project Safe Neighborhoods, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to a coordinated law enforcement approach and identifying and addressing the most violent locations in the District of Columbia and the offenders.

In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu, Assistant Director in Charge McNamara, and Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Safe Streets Task Force, including the FBI, MPD, U.S. Park Police, Prince George's County, Md. Police, and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.

Finally they cited the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nihar Mohanty and Kevin L. Rosenberg of the Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Swanton, who assisted with the forfeiture aspects of the investigation.